Water stopper for toilet tanks

ABSTRACT

A water stopper for a toilet tank to allow fine-tune adjustment of water flushing amount of the toilet tank includes at least a cap, a dome and an adjustment strut that are incorporated with a stopping gasket and a washer. The dome is a hollow semi-sphere coupled on the bottom of the cap and turnable, and has a water inlet at the bottom thereof and an air vent at one side. It further has features as follow: the cap has a coupling portion on the bottom to fasten to one end of the adjustment strut. The adjustment strut has a stopping disc at other end. The stopping disc has an aperture corresponding to the water inlet of the dome. By turning the dome, the water inlet and the aperture of the stopping disc can be overlapped at a desired ratio, thereby water entering speed into the dome can be fine tuned to control water flushing amount of the toilet tank.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a water stopper for toilet tanks and particularly to a water stopper that can fine tune water flushing amount of a toilet tank.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A conventional toilet drain assembly 1 as shown in FIG. 1 generally has a body 10 and an overflow tube 11 at one side thereof. The overflow tube 11 has an overflow opening 111 at an upper end to discharge excessive water to a drain port 101 to prevent water in a tank from overflowing outside. The overflow tube 11 has a strut 102 at a lower side to be latched by a notch 121 of a water stopper 12. The water stopper 12 has a gasket 122 and covers the drain port 101 on a upper side. The water stopper 12 further is driven by a chain 13 and movable about the strut 102 which serves as a fulcrum during movement so that water can be stored in the tank and flushed into a toilet as desired. The aforesaid structure still has drawbacks in use, notably:

1. The water stopper is not capable of adjusting water flushing amount according to requirements.

2. The drain assembly 1 of different brands and models has varying water stopper plugging time. To achieve desired flushing effect fine-tune adjustment features are often neglected or absent. As a result, waste of flushing water occurs.

To remedy the shortcomings mentioned above, U.S. Pat. No. 7,222,375B2, referring to FIG. 2, discloses a tank ball assembly for toilet that has a tank ball 20 with a cap 21 located thereon. The cap 21 has a post 211 with an internal screw thread formed therein fastened to a screw 23 corresponding to a water inlet 221 of a dome 22. By adjusting the fastening elevation of the screw 23 water flow speed through the water inlet 221 can be harnessed. Hence water flushing amount can be controlled.

While the aforesaid reference can control the water flushing amount by adjusting the screw 23, it still has problems when in use, such as:

1. Adjusting the water flushing amount through the screw 23 has to rely on tools. But the space in the toilet tank is limited and has many dead angles. Maneuvering the tools in the tank is an awkward operation.

2. The screw 23 is located beneath the cap 21 and invisible to users. Moreover, the screw 23 is moved by pitches and difficult for users to find out the exact adjusting distance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the aforesaid problems, the primary object of the present invention is to provide a water stopper for a toilet tank that that can fine tune water flushing amount. The water stopper according to the invention includes at least a cap, a dome and an adjustment strut that are incorporated with a stopping gasket and a washer. The dome is a hollow semi-sphere coupled on the bottom of the cap and turnable, and has a water inlet at the bottom and an air vent at one side. It further has features as follow: the cap has a coupling portion on the bottom to fasten to one end of the adjustment strut. The adjustment strut has a stopping disc at other end. The stopping disc has an aperture corresponding to the water inlet of the dome. By turning the dome, the water inlet and the aperture of the stopping disc can be overlapped or masked at a desired ratio, thereby water entering speed into the dome can be regulated to adjust water flushing amount of the toilet tank.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a conventional technique.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of another conventional technique.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of operation condition-1 of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of operation condition-2 of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of operation condition-3 of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Pleasing referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the present invention aims to provide a water stopper 3 which includes a cap 31, a dome 34 and an adjustment strut 35 that are incorporated with a stopping gasket 32 and a washer 33.

The cap 31 is a circular tray formed at a size slightly larger than the drain port of a toilet tank, and has a plurality of retaining flanges 311 protruding from the bottom thereof to hold the stopping gasket 32 and the washer 33.

The dome 34 is a hollow semi-sphere coupling on the perimeter of the retaining flanges 311, and has a water inlet 341 at the bottom thereof, and an air vent 342 at one side.

The invention further has features as follow:

The cap 31 has a coupling portion 312 in the center of the bottom thereof.

The dome 34 has at least one indented torsional groove 343 on the outer surface to facilitate grasping of users to turn the dome 34. The water inlet 341 has the center thereof formed on an inner bottom side 340 of the dome 34 and slightly eccentric from the center line L of the dome 34.

The adjustment strut 35 has one end fastened to the coupling portion 312 of the cap 31 and another end formed a stopping disc 351 in contact with the inner bottom side 340 of the dome 34. The stopping disc 351 has an aperture 352 corresponding to the water inlet 341 of the dome 34.

The stopping gasket 32 is a pliable blade and has a first round opening 321 formed in the center to couple on the perimeter of the retaining flanges 311.

The washer 33 is a thin and hard blade interposed between the stopping gasket 32 and the dome 34 to reduce friction resistance when the dome 34 is turned. The washer 33 has a second round opening 331 in the center.

Please referring to FIGS. 3 through 7, when in use to do fine-tune adjustment of water flushing of a toilet tank, turn the dome 34 with hands to generate overlap between the water inlet 341 of the dome 34 and the aperture 352 of the stopping disc 351 so that the stopping disc 351 masks a portion or total area of the water inlet 341 to regulate water entering speed through the water inlet 341. FIG. 5 illustrates that the water inlet 341 is fully opened, FIG. 7 illustrates that the water inlet 341 is fully masked, and partial opening (or masking) of the water inlet 341 can also be formed as shown in FIG. 6. Thus the closed duration of the water stopper 3 can be fine-tuned to control flushing water amount.

As a conclusion, the water stopper of the invention can fine-tune water flushing amount of the toilet tank to reduce water consumption without relying on any tools, thus provide improvement to overcome the shortcomings of the conventional techniques. 

1. A water stopper for a toilet tank, comprising a cap, a dome and an adjustment strut incorporating with a stopping gasket and a washer, wherein: the cap is a circular tray formed at a size slightly larger than a drain port of the toilet tank and has a plurality of retaining flanges protruding from the bottom thereof to hold the stopping gasket and the washer; and the dome is a hollow semi-sphere coupling on the perimeter of the retaining flanges and has a water inlet at the bottom thereof and an air vent at one side; wherein: the cap further has a coupling portion at the bottom thereof; the water inlet has the center thereof formed on an inner bottom side of the dome and eccentric from the center line of the dome; and the adjustment strut has one end fastened to the coupling portion of the cap and another end formed a stopping disc in contact with the inner bottom side of the dome, the stopping disc having an aperture corresponding to the water inlet of the dome.
 2. The water stopper for a toilet tank of claim 1, wherein the dome has at least one torsional groove formed on the surface thereof to facilitate grasping of users for turning the dome. 